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Traditional Mallorcan object

Escala de figueraler (fig-picker's ladder)

At a glance

Peu ladder that the figueralers use to climb the fig trees to pick figs (DCVB). Ladder with one or two articulated sticks that serve as support: it stands…

Objects and tools
Traditional Mallorcan object
Words
escala de figueraler / de figueral, escala de gat, escala de peu, figueral, figueraler / figueralera, «Sa nostra figueralera / ha caiguda d'un cimal...»
Events
3
ladder
ladder — Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/, Museum of Popular Arts and Customs of Seville (vía Europeana/CER.ES)

What is

Peu ladder that the figueralers use to climb the fig trees to pick figs (DCVB). Ladder with one or two articulated sticks that serve as support: it stands alone, without relying on the branch (DCVB, peu scale). In Mallorca they also say figueral scale.

How is

  • Two stringers with crossbars and an articulated peu (leg) (DCVB).
  • Light, to move it from fig tree to fig tree.
  • They are made "of different sizes, always according to the original mold", with templates (Última Hora, 2022).
  • Wood and measurements: to verify.

How is fa

  • Carpentry with templates.
  • Joan Campins (Consell, Ganivets Campins workshop) has been manufacturing them since his supplier, Jaume, an 84-year-old craftsman from Campanet, retired, who taught him with his templates and machines (Última Hora, 2022).

Com s'usa

  • The figueraleres (women) picked the figs. The figueralera major assigned a fig tree to each worker; some went up to do els alts, others took els baixos (Pons, 2004).
  • Equipment: palm hat lined with fabric, striped apron, manegots, the peu scale and a ganxo (Pons).

-The figs went in paners to the sequer .

  • Today: decorative use (towel rack, display stand); A cooperative in Binissalem ordered about twenty (Última Hora, 2022).

Vocabulary

  • escala de figueraler / de figueral: standing ladder for the fig tree.
  • escala de peu: ladder with support leg.
  • escala de gat: ladder without leg.
  • figueraler / figueralera: who picks or dries figs.
  • figueral: field of fig trees.
  • «Sa nostra figueralera / ha caiguda d'un cimal...»: popular gloss (Pons).

History

  • 1772: free export of dried figs (Pons).
  • 1860: 12,789 hectares of figueral in Mallorca; 1965: 20,009 ha; 1996: 8,361 ha (Pons).
  • Last third of the 19th century: great expansion of the figueral with the division of the possessions (Pons).
  • 2022: Campins recovers manufacturing in Consell.

On veure'n

  • Ganivets Campins (Consell).
  • Son Mut Nou (Llucmajor), collection of fig trees from Montserrat Pons.
  • Festa des Sequer (Lloret de Vistalegre).

Why is it design

  • Stable without support: the leg allows you to work without carrying fragile fig branches.
  • Template as memory: the Campanet artisan's mold keeps the shape.
  • Second life: the agricultural object enters the interior design unchanged.

For the project

  • Perfect case of a "living object": an active craftsman, an inherited form, new uses.
  • Product sheet for Indigenous Design with Campins.

Frequently asked questions

What is Escala de figueraler (fig-picker's ladder)?

Peu ladder that the figueralers use to climb the fig trees to pick figs (DCVB). Ladder with one or two articulated sticks that serve as support: it stands…

What are the traditional words for Escala de figueraler (fig-picker's ladder)?

Some words: escala de figueraler / de figueral, escala de gat, escala de peu, figueral, figueraler / figueralera, «Sa nostra figueralera / ha caiguda d'un cimal...».

Sources

Working text from the Disseny Indígena knowledge base, machine-translated from Spanish.

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